If you’re looking for a change of pace from your current career, you can explore the world of online marketing and learn to become an expert in marketing management.

Why Online Marketing?

The world of online marketing is vast, but you don’t need a university degree to enter it. All you need is a passion for marketing and the desire to learn.

No matter which path you choose, you’re sure to find a role that suits you, but if you want to specialise in marketing management, then you can find plenty of jobs within the industry.

With the right qualifications and a few years of experience, you can become an expert in marketing management, working with senior executives to come up with marketing strategies and work plans, as well as analysing marketing data and conducting marketing research.

On the other side of the spectrum, you could become an expert in digital marketing, implementing digital marketing strategies and analysing digital marketing data to determine the performance of marketing campaigns.

You might even decide to head up your own team, managing others and leading them to achieve success. As the industry changes and new technologies emerge, you’ll be able to keep up with the latest trends while continuing to build on your existing knowledge.

The Difference Between Online Marketing and Digital Marketing

Before we begin, it’s important to point out the differences between online marketing and digital marketing. While they’re both umbrella terms for marketing on the internet, they have distinct rules and regulations governing how they operate.

Online marketing is the process of attracting, engaging and delighting consumers in a digital space – whether that’s a website, social media platform or mobile app. It can also include offline marketing such as radio and television commercials, as well as paid search ads.

In contrast, digital marketing is the process of attracting, engaging and delighting consumers in a digital space – whether that’s a website, social media platform or mobile app. Offline marketing is still considered part of the digital marketing process, but it’s highly targeted and focused on specific groups of people -– such as male consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 who like sports cars.

In essence, when you grow your expertise in marketing management, you will be able to navigate the ever-changing world of digital marketing and keep your finger on the pulse of marketing trends.

Marketing Management and the 4-pillar Model

In order to build a strong foundation in marketing management, it’s important to understand the four distinct pillars of Marketing Strategy, Execution, Measurement and Learning.

The first two pillars – Marketing Strategy and Execution – represent the what and the how of marketing. The former includes everything from coming up with a marketing plan to analysing data and creating key performance indicators (KPIs). The latter involves coming up with specific tactics to drive website traffic, social media engagement and conversions -– such as online marketing campaigns (e.g., PPC) or SEO initiatives.

The second two pillars – Measurement and Learning – represent the evaluation and the continuous improvement of marketing. The former involves evaluating the effects of marketing strategies and tactics and the latter involves continuously improving existing strategies and tactics based on objective and verifiable evidence.

The fourth and final pillar – Learning – represents the lifetime of a marketer. It starts with learning the basics of marketing, including the four pillars mentioned above, and then progresses through continuous self-education and engagement with subject matter experts (SMEs).

The Basics of Marketing

The basics of marketing are fairly straightforward. You’ll need to have a clear understanding of the following:

• The differences between brands and products;
• The five customer lifecycle stages;
• The purpose of marketing;
• The power of words and the importance of copy;
• The four traditional marketing mix elements -– product, price, place, and promotion -– and how to apply them to digital marketing platforms; and
• Why marketing analytics are so important.

Marketing Mixes for Dummies

Since the basics of marketing are fairly straightforward, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about and why you should care about complicated marketing mixes. Well, let’s put it this way: if you’re reading this post, then you have a curiosity about marketing and you’re interested in learning more about the topic. That’s all the motivation you need to know the basics of marketing and work your way up to the more advanced aspects.

When it comes to applying the traditional 4-Pillar Model to digital marketing, one of the first things you’ll need to do is decide which marketing mix elements will be most effective for your product or service. Typically, you’ll want to focus on the product (i.e., what your customers want), how much you’re willing to spend on advertising, and what your competitors are doing.

Product

Your product is the thing you’re selling to your customers. It could be a physical product like a TV or a computer, or it could be a service such as web hosting or legal advice. Regardless, your product has three attributes:

• It is unique;
• It has features or benefits that make it special; and
• It solves a problem for your typical customer.

Price

Your price is the cost you’re charging your customers for your product. Generally, you want to set a price that is slightly higher than your cost in order to make a profit. As for what that profit should be, that’s a personal preference and depends on your cost of goods and operating costs. You may choose to look at what your competitors are charging for similar products or services in order to set a baseline price for your own products.

Place

Your place is the location where you’ll sell your product or service. This could be physical locations – such as retail stores or gas stations – or it could be digital spaces – such as websites or social media platforms.

Promotion

Your promotion is everything you do to get customers to buy your product. You have three options for promotion:

• Product placement;
• Public relations, marketing, and advertising; and
• Direct marketing (i.e., advertising in print or on the air).

You’ll want to choose one or two of these methods and use them to their fullest extent depending on your product and business goals. For example, if you’re an e-commerce store selling clothing, you may want to promote your product on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook in addition to running ads on Google.

Analytics

Last but not least, we have analytics. Analytics are all the tools used to track and analyse traffic on websites, social media platforms, and mobile apps. Depending on your product or service, you may want to look into different tracking tools -– such as Google Analytics for websites, or Mixpanel for mobile apps.

Having a clear understanding of the basics of marketing will put you ahead of the game. When it comes to applying the 4-Pillar Model to digital marketing, you’ll be able to choose the right strategy and tactics for your product or service. That means you can stand a chance of truly differentiating yourself from competitors, gaining a competitive edge, and eventually becoming an expert in marketing management.